Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 6.8.4

6.8.4

If the renowned sciences of the ancient Bragmanes of the Indies consisted of all the extravagant follies which I have detailed, mankind have indeed been deceived in the exalted opinion they have long entertained of their wisdom. I should find it difficult to persuade myself that such was the fact, did I not consider that the religion of the Indians has existed from time immemorial; that it is written in Sanscrit, as are likewise all their scientific books; that the Sanscrit has long become a dead language, understood only by the learned; and that its origin is unknown: all which proves a very great antiquity. I will now say a word or two on the worship of idols. When going down the river Ganges, I passed through Benares, and called upon the chief of the Pendets, who resides in that celebrated seat of learning. He is a Fakire or Devotee so eminent for knowledge that Chah-Jehan, partly for that consideration, and partly to gratify the Rajas, granted him a pension of two thousand roupies, which is about one thousand crowns. He is a stout, well-made man, and his dress consists of a white silk scarf, tied about the waist, and hanging half way down the leg, and of another tolerably large scarf of red silk, which he wears as a cloak on his shoulders. I had often seen him in this scanty dress at Dehli, in the assembly of the Omrahs and before the King, and met him in the streets either on foot or in a paleky.